A labourer, Adam Shola, has been sentenced to four years imprisonment for selling cannabis, popularly called marijuana.
Shola was convicted by Justice Garba Mohammed of a Federal High Court sitting in Kaduna, on Thursday, after he pleaded guilty to the offence and begged the court for leniency.
The NDLEA Counsel, T. I. Atserhegh, told the court that the defendant was arrested on May 5 at Kawo Bus Stop in Kaduna, while selling the drugs.
He said the NDLEA operatives recovered 5kg of cannabis sativa “a narcotic drug similar to cocaine, heroin and LSD from Shola.”
Atserhegh said the offence contradicts Section 11(c) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, Cap 30, LFN 2004.
The prosecutor tendered a transparent envelope containing remnants of the drug and urged the court to convict the defendant based on his plea and the evidence.
Delivering his judgment, Justice Mohammed held that he was satisfied with the prosecutor’s evidence.
“The court is convinced beyond reasonable doubt going by the weight of the evidence adduced before me. I, therefore, pronounce the defendant guilty and convict him summarily.
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“The convict is hereby sentenced to four years imprisonment beginning from May 5 when he was arrested,” the judge held.
The judge also ordered the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency to destroy the drugs after 90 days if the convict does not appeal the judgment.
In another development, a five-year-old boy, Abdulmalik Junaidu, was on Monday at about 7pm struck to death by thunderstorm in Nasarawa Yanlemu community in Bakori LGA of Katsina State.
Malam Junaidu Gide, the father of the victim said, “When I closed from work at the motor park after Maghrib prayers, it was raining.
“As the rain subsided, I went home and asked for the children. The mother told me that they went to the mosque.
“A few minutes later, Abdulmajid, the elder brother of the deceased, came home horrified, saying that something heavy hit them on their way home and that his brother was there lying down on the road.
“When we got to him, I took him to the Funtua General Hospital where he was confirmed dead.”
The father explained that the boy’s body was burnt from chest downwards, saying that because of night and the rain, they buried Abdulmalik last Tuesday morning according to Islamic rites.
He added that they had terrible thunderstorms last Monday from their area up to Funtua, stressing that “most people were not surprised when they heard that it struck my little son.”